E. coli question?

Question

I have two questions about E. coli my first is is there any cure for E. coli and my second is why dont they check or find the E. coli before they send it to markets?

Answer 1

There are many strains of E.coli. Every person has a lot of E. coli normally in their GI tract. It is the bacteria that most often causes urinary tract infections. E. coli is usually easily treated with antibiotics. The particular strain that causes Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome is E. coli 0157:H. It's most common source is from cow intestines and feces. The cow feces contaminates the water used for irrigation which then contaminates the produce. More stringent monitoring of irrigation water could reduce this risk. I think that now that we have had 2 epidemics during 2 separate years that farmers will alter their procedures. I do feel for the farmers that produce our food. Many of these individuals barely make it from year to year and are dependent on the whims of weather as well as a ready supply of cheap and rapid labor.

Answer 2

E. Coli is what is called a 'gram negative' bacteria. It's also what is called a 'facultative anaerobe', which means even though it is NORMALLY found in areas with no oxygen (like in the human intestines) it can also live OUTSIDE the body in areas WITH oxygen. This is how E. Coli contaminates our food. Say an animal eats another animal that has E. Coli in it's digestive tract, then the other animal eats that E. Coli and then it defecates. The waste products can contain the E. Coli and it can live outside the body in the waste products.
What is meant by 'gram negative' is a test used in a lot of microbiology labs to determine if a particular strain of bacteria stains "negative" or "positive" using a test calleda Gram stain. If the stain shows up as negative, which is red or pink, then the bacteria is usually commonly destroyed with antibiotics (E. Coli is a gram negative bacteria by the way) Gram POSITIVE bacteria are the ones you really gotta watch out for (like antrhax or the bacteria that causes botulism) With THESE bacteria, they stain positive, whichs shows up as violet or blue. What this means is that these bacteria have an outer "wall" that helps to protect it from antibiotics and being destroyed. This outer wall can be broken down with antibiotics, but then these particular types of bacteria will release a "poison" once their wall has been broken, thus making a person even more sick. It's kind of a "bacterial revenge". The bacteria are basically saying, "ok, you got me, but here's some poison for messing with me".
Sure, our produce IS checked by the USDA before going to the markets, but even the USDA allows for a percentage of error, because it would be impossible to stop ALL bacteria. They have started irradiating food with high frequency gamma type rays to destroy any potential pathogens without destroying the quality of the food. The problem? Irradiated food generally costs a little more, and a lot of people are fearful about the radiation, feeling that it will lead to cancer, even though studies have not shown any harmful effects from radiated food. It actually reduces bacteria, and helps keep food from spoilage.

Answer 3

I am have no idea about your first question, but I can answer your second, at least for the meat industry.

E. coli testing is a good practice done by plants before plants send finished product out into commerce. Most of the time, they just test for generic E. coli, rather than E. coli 0157:H7. Sometimes, plants will go ahead and ship product before they get the results. For the most part, everything goes fine, and there is no recall. Plants that do not slaughter the animal and depend on outside companies to supply the meat for their final product generally require that meat coming into their facility be tested prior to buying it. So, they have a reasonable expectation that their final product should be free of E. coli if the product coming in is free of it.

Anyways, you also have to remember that a sample taken by the federal government (as far as ground meat goes) is generally only about 25 grams of meat. A plant could produce thousands of pounds of product a day, so the odds of catching that small bacteria are fairly minute.

Answer 4

I think there are some antibiotics that help with E. Coli. I think the reason that they don't check for E. Coli before there are sent to markets is because they are lazy or it may cost too much to check every product... they would also have to check for other microoganisms as well. Who knows....

Answer 5

E coli is treated with Levaquin or whatever it is sensitive to.
I dont know the answer to the 2nd question. I imagine it would be a huge amount of work to test every single leaf of every single vegetable and very expensive. This is why you should thoroughly wash your veggies before eating them.
I totally agree with the guy below me. He is totally legit. Go dude!!!